JERUSALEM, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the decisions by the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to formally recognise a Palestinian state, calling the move a dangerous concession that rewards terrorism.
In a statement issued on Sunday, September 21, 2025, during his visit to the United States, Netanyahu said the recognitions came less than two years after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, which triggered the latest Gaza war.
“I have a clear message to those leaders who are recognising a Palestinian state after the horrendous October 7 massacre: you are rewarding terror with an enormous prize,” he said.
“It’s not going to happen. There will be no Palestinian state to the west of the Jordan River.”
Netanyahu insisted that Palestinian statehood posed a direct threat to Israel’s security and vowed to resist international pressure.
He said he had withstood “tremendous pressure, both domestic and from abroad” to accept the principle of Palestinian independence.
The Israeli leader also pointed to his government’s settlement policy, declaring that the number of Jewish communities in the occupied West Bank — which Israel refers to as Judea and Samaria — had doubled under his watch, and would continue to expand.
Israel’s official diplomatic response, he added, would be announced after his return from the US trip.
Netanyahu stressed that his administration remained committed to preventing “any attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land.”
His comments came shortly after coordinated recognitions of Palestinian statehood by three major Western allies.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the decision as part of a push for a two-state solution, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese framed their recognitions as support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
The announcements were welcomed by Palestinian officials but drew criticism from Israel’s far-right ministers, who argue that such steps embolden Hamas and undermine Israeli security.
